Conventional medical procedures which require that a patient's vessel be indefinitely sealed have often related to long-term contraception. For females, conventional contraceptive procedures have involved the implantation of intrauterine devices or surgical measures to cut or block the fallopian tubes. These procedures have been reversed by removing blocking devices (e.g., clips, rings, etc.) or by using microsurgery to repair the damage done by cautery or cutting in order to reconnect previously severed vessels. For males, a vasectomy procedure which cuts the vasa deferntia, has generally been utilized as a primary conventional method of contraception. Vasectomies have been reversed by reconnecting the vasa deferntia via microsurgical techniques.
Although conventional contraception procedures have been effective in providing long-term contraception, these procedures may reduce or completely stop blood flow to critical reproductive organs which may in turn significantly reduce the potential to restore the organs' function if this is desired at a later time. In addition, microsurgery required to reverse these procedures has often proven difficult.